New South Wales 259 (Edwards 108, Gilkes 66, Bartlett 4-54) and 11 for 1 need 407 more runs to beat Queensland 387 and 289 for 3 dec (Renshaw 125*, Clayton 76 ret hurt)

The opener cruised to 125 before the hosts declared at 289 for 3 and left NSW a target of 418 for an unlikely victory in Brisbane.

Clayton, fresh off 134 in the first innings, seemed destined for twin hundreds in the match before he pulled up with a hamstring complaint and retired hurt.

Renshaw pushed on, accelerating into triple figures and finding a friend in Jimmy Peirson. Former Test opener Renshaw began the Shield season slowly and was overlooked for a berth against India. But he found form later in the year and now has two red-ball centuries either side of some dominant one-day and BBL innings.

"I had a really good bit of momentum in the last two, three Shield games after that first hundred," Renshaw said. "I wanted to keep that momentum going ... and today kept it nice and simple.I back our bowlers to do the job. It might be at 5pm, might be at 3pm."

NSW made 259 thanks to Edwards, but still conceded a 128-run lead after winning the toss and opting to bowl first.

Sent home ahead of Australia's second Test in Sri Lanka, Konstas will have his chance under pressure in what is his first match at the venue.

Queensland have just one win and three draws from six matches this season, but could jump fourth-placed NSW with a victory and remain in the hunt for a top-two finish with three games remaining.

Following the crushing first Test loss to India in Perth in November, there was a moment when Australia's Test team looked as though they may have reached a cliff much sooner than predicted.

Ten weeks, five Test wins and two significant series victories later, that seismic defeat in Perth feels like nothing but a bump in the road, with the horizon looking even better than expected.

Last summer they used just 12 players across seven Tests home and away, playing three of them without a single player under the age of 29, and produced less than convincing series wins over Pakistan and New Zealand whilst drawing with West Indies at home in between.

It was a summer where Australia showed versatility and adaptability in both decision-making and execution across a vast spectrum of conditions and opponents.

Reports of Smith's decline as a Test batter were greatly exaggerated, as were fears of Australia's batting depth overall.

The performance of Inglis and Webster, although he didn't make a century, and the looming return of Green means Australia is now flush with options ahead of the World Test Championship final which will create a selection squeeze.

The treatment of the two youngsters in Konstas and Nathan McSweeney rankled many, with the latter felt to be set up for failure as an opener after earning his place through middle-order Shield form, while the former captured the nation's hearts only to be cast aside based on the conditions in Sri Lanka.

A quick glance, however, at the top 10 Australian Test run-scorers shows a litany of examples of players given a taste of Test cricket at a young age, losing their place and then returning to dominate at the highest level.

Smith himself was dropped after making 77 in his second Test as a 21-year-old, recalled five Tests later, then dropped again for two full years before becoming Australia's best since Bradman.

Australia will still experience some pain whenever Smith and Khawaja finish, but the future looks brighter than it did 10 weeks ago.

That next rung of Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett and Nathan McAndrew are all performing well at first-class level but all are over the age of 30. Replacing two ageing generational batters out of six in the short to medium term looks far easier than replacing three generational quicks out of three.

For now, Australia march to a second consecutive WTC final with enough depth and confidence that any of whatever 15 they choose in their squad could play a role in the final. Thereafter they play three Tests in the West Indies, where the performance in Sri Lanka might have more bearing on how they set up than how they play at Lord's, before a date with England for a home Ashes. Perth feels a long time ago.

The BPL ended on February 7, and the following day, some of the players turned up at a training camp at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. These were mainly cricketers whose BPL teams had been knocked out before the final. The team will train in Dhaka till February 12, after which they leave for the Champions Trophy - their first match is against India in Dubai on February 20.

"I agree that it is not the best preparation, but they were playing white-ball cricket, which means that they are sharp skills-wise," Simmons said. "We have to get their minds up to 50-over cricket in the next six or seven days. They have the skills. They are performing. It is about getting to that 50-over mentality now. We will have double practice sessions in the next couple of days. We bat and bowl in the morning, and then do the same under the lights.

"We are getting ourselves prepared to bat for 50 overs. The first part of the preparation is about Dubai. Once we can get ourselves in the right frame of mind, and work on the right things for Dubai, I think we can start [preparations for] the rest the competition as well. We will get familiar conditions in Pakistan after that."

"He was working very hard all of those days when he wasn't playing," Simmons said. "We are going to need a strong mental attitude from everyone in the team. I think he possesses that, so I look forward to him continuing his work."

"He has looked slower than normal in the last couple of games. The run-up was less than normal approaching the wicket," Simmons said. "They [Rangpur Riders] got knocked out early so he had a bit of rest. He looked sharp in training yesterday. The pace was coming back. The run-up was as quick as it was in the Caribbean."

This is Simmons' last assignment in his current contract, and there are questions about the future. But Simmons wasn't giving any clues.

"I won't be here if I didn't believe [that we can win]," he said. "I think you prepare as best as you could when you go into a tournament. On that day, you play your best games. That's what I look to do, on every occasion. I think we have made a lot of strides in the Caribbean. I think we have a good chance once we play to the best of our ability."